Chad Smith

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Today we have the final interview in our month-long series with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in celebration of their new album, Unlimited Love, produced by Rick Rubin. There’s only one Chili Pepper left, Mr. “I eat-drums-for-breakfast” himself, Chad Smith.

Chad has always been a bit of an outlier in the band, he’s the only member who isn’t from L.A. He’s from the suburbs of Detroit and he was reared more on classic rock than punk like the rest of the band. But Chad is an integral member of the Peppers. His hard hitting style is the band’s foundation. And as we’ll hear him tell Rick, Chad fell in love with the Chili Peppers the day he auditioned for them close to 35 years ago.

On today’s episode Chad and Rick talk about the lost demo sessions the Chili Peppers recorded nearly a year before they made Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Chad also talks about how “Californication” started out as what he calls “a bad reggae song.” And he remembers the time he and Flea got chased—nearly naked—by cops in Green Bay.

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Hear a playlist of all of our favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers songs HERE.

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